MS Teams for Blackboard

Microsoft has created an application that allows instructors to create a Teams meeting and share that with their students. Blackboard has turned that application into an LTI Advantage tool that can be integrated with Learn. Blackboard's integration allows users to launch Microsoft Teams Meetings directly within any Learn course.

What is it?

This sentence summarizes it pretty succintly:

“We’ve enabled institutions with Microsoft Office 365 to create, schedule, and launch Microsoft Teams conference calls within Blackboard Learn. “
(from https://blog.blackboard.com/supporting-continuity-of-education-with-blackboard-learn-and-microsoft-teams/)



Requirements:


The Microsoft Teams for Blackboard integration is available in any Blackboard Learn course. Your institution needs to meet these requirements to use Microsoft Teams for Blackboard:

• Blackboard Learn SaaS or Blackboard Learn 9.1 Q2 2019/3700, released in May 2019, or later.
• LTI must be enabled for use in courses: Admin panel > LTI Tool Providers > Manage Global Properties. Enable LTI for course use and optionally for organization use. Select Submit.
• Set up LTI 1.3 Tool
• Set up REST API

And maybe one, taken for granted, you (the creator of the meeting) need to have access O365/Teams!  If you don't have Teams, this won't give it to you.

Participants DO NOT have to be in Teams to join the meeting.


Administrator Setup:


Overall, if you meet the requirements, it's pretty easy to set up following their instructions at https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator/SaaS/Integrations/Microsoft_Teams


Instructor / Student facing documentation:

• https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor/Interact/Microsoft_Teams
• https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Student/Interact/Microsoft_Teams

Blackboard Learn Caveats:

• Your meeting appears in the first Content Area of your course based on the Course Menu sequence and in your Calendar.

Example: if Information is the first Content Area, the content link will (by default) appear there. You can move it to a more appropriate Content Area.

• The integration sets adaptive release on the item based on the start and end date/times.

Example: Date Restrictions: Display after Mar 20, 2020 7:00:00 PM, Display until Mar 20, 2020 9:00:00 PM

MS Teams Caveats:

• The meeting becomes a Chat once you start the meeting (not when you create the meeting)
• Participants may not have access to the Chat artifacts (files, recordings, etc) unless you add them as Teams participants.
• As participants do not have to be in Teams, that may be more difficult to manage post-meeting
• Since the meeting only appears in Chat you will wants to name your meeting something easy to find (you can pin it later)
• Suggest maybe create ONE meeting for the entire semester (set broad start/end date/times) so you only have to deal with one Chat on the Teams-side
• You may want to check with your O365 Tenant Admin as to any Chat policies (e.g., when does it get removed).

What's the difference between a Chat and a Team Channel?


From https://kb.wisc.edu/92160

Chats are typically for one-on-one or less-important group messages. 

If you wanted to ask one person or a specific group of people a question, you would create a chat. 

In general, more short-term or day-to-day conversations should go through the chat/group function rather than the team function.

Can you convert a Chat into a Team Channel?

No, but there's a suggestion you can upvote:  

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/19440163-allow-group-chats-to-be-converted-into-a-team-chan 

3/24/20 Is it available on CourseSites?

Yes!